Clark Staying Home For Winter?

Now that the racing calendar for 2009 is out, Alberta horseman Keith Clark has re-thought his plans to go to Fraser Downs for the winter.

“I may send four or five horses out with a groom but I’m staying here to race in January and February,” Horse Racing Alberta quoted Clark as saying. “If I send any horses to Fraser it will be where I’ve got more than one horse that fits a particular class. None of my horses are eligible for any of the stakes races at Fraser Downs, so there’s no incentive to be there for that reason. But it would mean I don’t have to race stablemates owned by different owners against each other here at Northlands.”

Clark has trained more than 110 winners this year. He’s pleased the dates are now available. Kelly Ducharme is pleased too, even though his season hasn’t been quite as successful. With a small stable of just four horses, Ducharme finally picked up a win last Saturday with Blue Star Spirit. It was his first winner of the meet, and his first win in Alberta since last May.

“We raced the summer at Marquis Downs, thinking we had enough horsepower to do well over there,” HRA quoted Ducharme as saying. “In retrospect, we probably should have gone to Grande Prairie where the purses were stronger. We did manage to win a few races in Saskatoon but it’s tough to make ends meet when the purses are so small.”

One of Ducharme’s projects this fall has been trying to get a former Alberta champion back into racing form. Blue Star Royalty dominated the four-year-old class in 2004, earning about $150,000 at the races that year.

“He hasn’t been the same after that four-year-old season,” said Ducharme. “He got sick and then he broke a bone in his pastern and the surgeon had to put five screws in it to hold it together. But he won a couple of races this summer at Marquis Downs and he had one start a week ago here at Northlands. If we can keep him healthy, maybe he can win a few more races.”

Ducharme, whose racing stock is entirely Alberta-bred, has hopes for another Blue Star: Blue Star Spirit.

“We bought him out of the ASHA sale for just $1,000,” Ducharme said. “He’s a full brother to Blue Star Secret which made about $250,000 for Jim Martin. He was like a puppy with big feet as a yearling but he’s grown into those feet. I’m hopeful we can get him into the Snowshoe series on December 21st and see what he can do.”

(HRA)